Cynthia Johnston Turner
Credit: CU Winds File Photo
Cynthia Johnston Turner is an active conductor, festival adjudicator, and clinician, in the United States, Europe and Canada.
Before joining the Cornell faculty in the fall of 2004, Cynthia taught at the University of Rochester, where she directed the Wind Symphony, and served as Director of Music at Parkside High School, Dundas, Canada. Earlier in her career Cynthia taught middle school beginning instrumental music in Toronto and choral music in Switzerland. She currently serves as a faculty member with the summer Performing Arts Institute at Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Seminary and as a guest conductor with the Syracuse Society of New Music and Ensemble X .
Photo Credit: CU Winds File Photo
A Canadian, Cynthia completed her Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees at Queens University and her Master of Music in music education and conducting at the University of Victoria. Touring with her ensembles inspired her master's thesis on the musical and personal transformations that occur on tours, and her D.M.A. thesis at the Eastman School of Music centered on Dialogues and Entertainments by William Kraft, one of this generation's leading composers. At Eastman Cynthia was the recipient of the Eastman Graduate Teaching Award in conducting, where she studied with Donald Hunsberger, Mark Scatterday, and Neil Varon. She was nominated for the Canadian Prime Minister's Leadership in Teaching Award and received the National Leadership in Education Award (Readers Digest Foundation), the Excellence in Education Award (Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation), and the Marion Drysdale Leadership Among Women Teachers Award (also from OSSTF).
At Cornell, Cynthia is the Director of Wind Ensembles, overseeing the Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Chamber Winds, and other chamber ensembles. She also serves as faculty advisor to CU Winds, a student-driven organization devoted to the promotion and performance of wind music. Cynthia has commissioned numerous new works for wind band, many of which incorporate other artistic media, and she continues to actively promote commissions by today's leading composers.
In January 2006, Cynthia led the Cornell Wind Ensemble on a performing and service tour to Costa Rica that included performances across the country and the donation of over fifty instruments to a rural 'escuela de musica.' The Cornell Wind Ensemble returned to Costa Rica in 2008 for a similar endeavor.
Among other recent engagements, Cynthia has guest conducted the Provincial Honour Band of Alberta, the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Montclair State Wind Ensemble, the Festival Chamber Orchestra, and the Austrian Festival Orchestra in Salzburg.
Selected Presentations
- "The Wind Band Concert--'Marketing Imagination.'" Lecture/presentation at World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, Singapore Conference, July 2005.
- "The Wind Band Concert: A Bleak Future?" Lecture/presentation at World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Jonkoping, Sweden, July 2003.
Selected Publications
- "Dialogues and Entertainments by William Kraft: An Interpretive Analysis." Journal of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, 11 (2004).
- "The Wind Band Concert: A Bleak Future?" Journal of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, 10 (2003).
- "Music and Journey: Personal and Ensemble Transformation on the Band Tour." Canadian Music Educator, 43/2 (2002).
- Music and Journey: Personal and Ensemble Transformation on the Band Tour. Master's thesis. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria Press, 1998.
Selected Performances
- Montclair State University Wind Ensemble, New Jersey, guest conductor, December 2007
- Alberta Canada Honour Band, conductor, November 2007
- Latin American Honor Band, conductor, February 2007
- Quad State Honor Band, conductor, February 2007
- Salzart ’07: Paris Lodron Ensemble, Salzburg Austria, 2007.
- Light in Winter Festival, The Tiger's Ear: Listening to Modern Art by Bruce Adophe. Ensemble X, 2007.
- Commission and World Premiere: Hue and Cry by Steven Stucky. Eastman Wind Ensemble, 2007.
- Commission and World Premiere: Music for Piano, Percussion, and Wind Ensemble by Xi Wang. Cornell Wind Ensemble, 2007.
- Commission and World Premiere: Concerto for Winds by Spencer Topel. Cornell Wind Ensemble (with gamelan and electronics), 2007.
- Frankenstein!! by H.K. Gruber. Ensemble X, 2006.
- Commission and World Premiere: Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Wind Ensemble by Eddie Mora Bermudez. CUWE, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2006.
- Concerto in F (Allegro) by George Gershwin/trans. Cynthia Johnston Turner. CUWE, 2006.
- Commission and World Premiere: Canzona III by Norbert Palej. Cornell University Wind Ensemble, 2005.
- Canzona 26 by Pietro Lappi/trans. Cynthia Johnston Turner. Eastman Wind Ensemble, 2004.
- Commission and World Premiere: Soft by Kyle Blaha. University of Rochester Wind Symphony, 2004.
- Commission and World Premiere: Xeriscape by Douglas Ball. University of Rochester Wind Symphony, 2002.
- Commission and World Premiere: Oratorio by Daniel Bukvich. Parkside Wind Ensemble, 2001.
- Rocky Mountain Music Festival "Showcase Ensemble," Parkside Wind Ensemble, 2000.
Contacts
Office: Lincoln Hall 340 — Office Hours by Appointment
Email:
Phone: (607) 255-3712